Uphaar fire case: SC cancels Ansals' bail

New Delhi: Eleven years after 59 people died in the Uphaar fire tragedy, those responsible finally seem to have lost all hope of eluding the law.

Real estate tycoons Gopal and Sushil Ansal were convicted in January, but managed to get off on bail. However, now the Supreme Court has stepped in and cancelled their bail.

The two brothers will finally go to jail on Thursday and families of the victims feel vindicated.

Convenor Assoication of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), Neelam Krishnamurthy - who lost both her children in the fire - says, "Today, after 11-and-a-ha;f-years, I do feel vindicated. When the main judgement came, I felt very let down because I did not see them going behind bars. I wanted to see them punished so that a strong message goes to society that human life cannot be taken so lightly."

"While the trial was going on the Ansals had tampered with the judicial records which is a very serious offence. They had even been threatening me all trhoughout and everything was on record. The judges were very shocked to see the things that were happening in the trial court," she added.

She said that she still had a long way to go for she had a petition pending in the High Court where she was asking for a higher sentence for the Ansals - at least under IPC 304 part 2 - and only then would sge think that justice had been done.

The apex court's decision came on a petition filed by AVUT. The victims had alleged that the Ansal brothers were guilty of destroying court records and were delaying proceedings on their appeals in the Delhi High Court.

This charge was taken seriously by the apex court. A Bench of Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi said: "The conduct of the Ansal brothers after getting bail was not satisfactory and they should not have been given bail in the first instance."

Sushil and Gopal Ansal have both been convicted to two years in jail in the case.

The apex court has also cancelled the bail of two Uphaar theatre managers, Nirmal Chopra and Ajit Choudhary, who had been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment.

A trial court on November, 20, 2007 had convicted Ansal brothers along with three others under Section 304-A IPC (causing death due to rash and negligent act) and had sentenced them to two years imprisonment.

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"Tampering with judicial records is a crime worse than murder or dacoity," the Supreme Court said. The SC has directed the real estate barons to surrender before ACMM at Patiala House district courts by 16:00 hrs IST on Thursday. A Bench of Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi which initially ordered "forthwith arrest" of the accused, however, on the plea of senior counsel Fali S Nariman modified its order and said that the four shall surrender before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala "latest" by Thursday.

The SC also rejected the bail plea of B N Satija, a former Delhi Vidyuth Board Employee and Manmohan Unniyal, gatekeeper of the theatre.

The apex court, in the same order, also requested the Delhi High Court Chief Justice to constitute a "appropriate" Bench for hearing the appeal proceedings relating to the convictions in the fire tragedy case.

During the five-hour-long hearing, the apex court said it was not passing any detailed and reasoned order since it would prejudice the contention of the rival parties in the trial which is pending relating to tampering of judicial records by the accused before the trial court.

According to police, the documents allegedly tampered with included a police memo giving details of recoveries immediately after the incident, Delhi Fire Service records pertaining to repair of transformer installed inside Uphaar, minutes of Managing Director's meetings and four cheques.

Out of the six set of documents, a cheque of Rs 50 lakh, issued by Sushil Ansal to self, and minutes of the MD's meetings, prove beyond doubt that the two brothers were handling the day-to-day affairs of the theatre at the relevant time, the Delhi police had earlier stated in its chargesheet before the trial court. The apex court asked the CBI as to what action was initiated against the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (licensing) for permitting the theatre to run without a valid license.

(With inputs from Divya Iyer in New Delhi)

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